PAM. 

CHINA 

C,  3 

The 

Missionary  Enterprise 
in  Chma 


By  the  Hon.  CHESTER  HOLCOMBE 


AMERICAN  BOARD  OF  COMMISSIONERS  FOR 
FOREIGN  MISSIONS 


THE 

MISSIONARY  ENTERPRISE 
IN  CHINA 

By  The  Hon.  CHESTER  HOLCOMBE 

For  20  years  connedled  with  the  Diplomatic  Staff 
of  the  United  States  in  China, 

Author  of  “The  Real  Chinaman,” 

“The  Real  Chinese  Question,"  etc. 


Reprinted  by  permission  from 

THE  ATLANTIC  MONTHLY 

Copyright,  1906,  by  Houghton,  Mifflin  & Company 


AMERICAN  BOARD  OF  COMMISSIONERS 
FOR  FOREIGN  MISSIONS 


Congregational  House.  14  Beacon  Street 

BOSTON,  MASS 


PUBLISHER’S  NOTE. 


The  Hon.  Chester  Holcombe,  the  writer  of  the  following 
paper,  which  first  appeared  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly  for  Sep- 
tember, 1906,  and  is  now  reprinted  through  the  courtesy  of 
the  publishers  of  that  magazine,  Houghton,  Mifflin  & Co.,  is 
a graduate  of  Union  College,  N.  Y.,  and  in  early  life  went  to 
China,  where  he  was  appointed  secretary  and  interpreter  to 
the  American  Legation  in  Peking  by  Gen.  Grant.  Mr.  Hol- 
combe has  been  connected  with  the  diplomatic  service  in 
various  posts,  and  knows  thoroughly  the  language  and  the 
people  of  China,  has  resided  long  in  Peking  and  has  traveled 
throughout  almost  the  entire  empire.  He  is  a diplomat  and 
author,  his  two  volumes,  “The  Real  Chinaman”  and  “The 
Real  Chinese  Question,”  having  been  widely  circulated  and 
commended,  both  in  this  country  and  in  Great  Britain. 

As  a diplomat  of  experience,  Mr.  Holcombe  holds  no  brief 
for  the  defence  of  missions.  He  writes  frankly  of  what  he 
has  himself  seen,  and  in  regard  to  which  he  has  had  exep- 
tional  opportunity  for  acquiring  accurate  information.  The 
net  result  is  that  he  makes  it  clear  that  the  great  mass  of  in- 
discriminate  condemnation  and  criticism  of  missions  and  mis- 
sionaries has  its  foundation  in  lack  of  information  and  ig- 
norance of  real  conditions.  For  this,  in  these  days,  there  is 
no  valid  excuse. 


THE  MISSIONARY  ENTERPRISE 
IN  CHINA. 

WITH  the  rising  tide  of  American  interest  in 
China,  the  unsatisfactory  condition  of  our 
relations  with  that  great  and  ancient  nation, 
with  the  general  unrest  there,  which  is  the  inevitable 
consequence  of  movements  toward  a new  and  modern 
life,  and  the  local  and  sporadic  outbreaks  of  violence 
incident  to  such  unrest,  one  hears  again  the  old  and 
familiar  cry  that  the  missionaries  are  responsible  for 
at  least  the  larger  portion  of  the  varied  forms  of  hos- 
tility exhibited  toward  foreigners.  Their  persistent 
and  impertinent  attempts  to  force  an  alien  and  un- 
desired religion  upon  the  Chinese  are,  so  it  is  con- 
fidently asserted,  peculiarly  offensive  to  officials  and 
people  alike,  a hindrance  to  trade,  and  a menace  to 
peaceful  relations.  The  Boxer  movement  it  is  pointed 
out,  was  an  attempt,  vain  in  result,  to  throw  off  the 
hateful  missionary  incubus,  to  rid  the  Chinese  of  a 
body  of  unwelcome  interlopers  who  defamed  their 
ancient  and  cherished  forms  of  belief, — which  are  as 
good  as  ours,  some  will  add, — and  who  sought  to 
supplant  them  with  another,  wholly  unsuited  to  their 
mental  and  spiritual  conformation.  The  loss  of  life 
in  that  Boxer  movement,  confined  almost  wholly  to 
missionaries  and  native  converts,  together  with 
several  more  recent  exhibitions  of  violence  in  which 
missionaries  alone  have  su^ered,  are  cited  as  full 
evidence  of  the  correctness  of  this  conclusion. 


It  might  be  pointed  out  that  the  Boxer  uprising 
was  an  abortive  attempt  to  drive  all  foreigners  of 
every  class  from  China,  and  thus  to  save  the 
Empire  from  partition  and  distribution  among  the 
great  cormorant  powers  of  Europe, — which  was 
believed  to  be  the  distinct  purpose  and  inevitable 
result  of  the  continued  presence  of  foreigners  there  ; 
that,  in  fact,  missionaries  formed  the  only  class  of 
alien  residents  who  had  no  part  in  the  development 
of  such  a fear  and  frenzy ; that  they  suffered  most 
because  they  alone  of  all  alien  classes  had  estab- 
lished themselves  at  remote  parts  of  the  interior, 
in  close  touch  with  the  people,  and  out  of  reach  of 
battleship,  cruiser,  or  any  other  means  of  defence  or 
place  of  refuge.  In  a general  raid  against  all  for- 
eigners, the  missionary  was  first  attacked  because  he 
was  first  at  hand,  and,  to  put  it  frankly  and  truthfully, 
he  .suffered  because  he  was  in  or  part  of  bad  com- 
pany ; not  because  he  was  a missionary,  but  for  the 
crime,  in  Chinese  eyes,  of  being  a foreigner. 

So  too,  in  response  to  the  charge  of  attempting  to 
force  an  alien  and  inappropriate  form  of  belief  upon 
a people  well  suited  to  and  with  their  own,  it  might 
be  said  that,  in  the  entire  history  of  missionary  ef- 
fort in  China,  or  in  other  parts  of  the  Far  East, 
nothing  even  remotely  approaching  the  exercise  of 
force  has  been  attempted.  To  talk  to  persons  who 
choose  to  listen,  to  throw  wide  the  doors  of  chapels 
where  natives  who  desire  may  hear  the  Christian  faith 
explained  and  urged  upon  their  attention,  to  sell  at 
half  cost  or  to  give  the  Bible  and  Christian  literature 
freely  to  those  who  may  care  to  read  them,  to  heal 


the  sick,  without  cost,  who  come  for  medical  treat- 
ment, to  instruct  children  whose  parents  are  desirous 
that  they  should  receive  education, — surely  none  or 
or  all  of  these  constitute  methods  or  practices  to 
which  the  word  force  may  be  applied  under  any  allow- 
able use  of  the  English  language.  And  this,  thus 
briefly  summarized,  constitutes  the  entire  body  of 
missionary  effort  in  China.  To  put  it  in  another  form, 
there  is  no  difference  between  the  work  of  pioneer 
preachers  in  the  far  West,  that  of  laborers  or  “settle- 
ment workers  ” in  the  slums  of  great  cities,  or  of  el- 
oquent pastors  of  wealthy  and  fashionable  churches 
in  Back  Bay  district  of  Boston  or  P'ifth  Avenue  in 
New  York,  and  that  done  by  missionaries  in  China. 
If  the  last  named  force  the  acceptance  of  Christian- 
ity upon  their  hearers,  then  so  do  all  the  others. 

The  work  is  absolutely  identical  in  character  and 
method,  differentiated  from  the  others  only  by  simple 
forms  of  presentation  in  order  to  reach  the  more 
effectively,  minds  wholly  unfamiliar  with  tmths  pre- 
sented. Those  who  assert  that  Christianity  is  wholly 
unsuited  to  the  Chinese  character,  that  the  Chinese 
will  not  and  cannot  become  sincere  and  loyal  Christ- 
ians, are  most  respectfully  referred  to  the  long  list  of 
native  martyrs,  of  both  sexes  and  all  ages,  who  read- 
ily and  gladly  gave  up  their  lives  in  the  Boxer  move- 
ment, rather  than  abjure  the  Christian  faith. 

It  might  further  be  added  that  unselfish  men  and 
devoted  women,  enthusiastic  in  what  appears  to  them 
at  least,  to  be  a great  cause,  who  are  ready  to  expa- 
triate themselves  and  to  abandon  all  their  ambitions 
and  their  lives  to  its  promotion  in  foreign  lands,  have 


5 


as  good  a right  to  carr^’  out  their  self-sacrificing 
wishes,  to  enter  China  and  do  their  chosen  work 
there  by  all  proper  methods,  as  have  their  fellow 
citizens  who  seek  the  same  Empire  in  order  to  win 
a fortune  by  dealing  in  cotton  goods,  kerosene,  silk, 
tea,  or  possibly  in  opium.  They  have  precisely  the 
same  right,  no  greater  and  no  less,  to  the  protection 
and  sympathetic  assistance  of  their  own  government 
as  any  other  class  of  citizens.  To  more  than  this, 
American  missionaries  have  never  made  claim. 

Beyond  tliese  brief  and  general  statements,  intend- 
ed to  correct  certain  widely  prevalent  misconceptions 
of  fact,  and  to  clear  the  ground  for  what  is  to  follow, 
it  is  not  the  purpose  of  this  article  to  denounce  or 
defend  evangelistic  work  in  China  or  the  presence  of 
missionaries  there.  With  the  quality  of  the  work 
done,  the  doctrines  taught,  or  the  agencies  employed, 
this  paper  has  nothing  to  do.  After  all,  it  is  a matter 
of  comparatively  trifling  importance  what  fellow  for- 
eigners may  think  of  missionaries  or  missionary  work 
on  the  other  side  of  the  world.  Their  approval  or 
condemnation  counts  for  little.  What  the  Chinese 
themselves  think,  what  is  their  attitude  and  that  of 
their  government  toward  the  enterprise,  are  questions 
of  vastly  greater  moment.  To  answer  these  questions 
from  a purely  secular  standpoint,  to  deal  with  the 
missionary  enterprise  as  a factor  in  the  moderniza- 
tion of  China,  to  explain  the  exact  attitude  and  policy 
of  the  Imperial  government  toward  it  and  the  causes 
of  friction,  constantly  growing  more  rare,  between  its 
promotors  and  Chinese  officials  and  people,  these 
together  constitute  the  motive  of  this  article.  Neither 


6 


conjecture  nor  hearsay  will  form  the  basis  of  con- 
clusions reached,  but  facts  gained  through  a long 
and  necessarily  close  study  of  the  missionary  ques- 
tion in  China,  innumerable  discussions,  and  much 
practical  experience  in  the  adjustment  of  so-called 
“missionary  cases.” 

In  any  effort  to  gain  a correct  understanding  of 
this  or  other  questions  which  affect  our  relations  with 
the  Chinese,  certain  characteristics  of  the  race 
should  be  kept  carefully  in  mind.  They  are  an  in- 
tellectual people,  and  possessed  of  fully  the  average 
amount  of  shrewd  common  sense,  intermingled  with 
some  ancient  and  crude  superstitions,  which  ser\-e  as 
a varient.  With  the  single  exception  of  the  Emperor, 
their  officials  of  all  grades,  from  the  highest  to  the 
lowest,  are  of  and  chosen  from  the  people  themselves, 
and  local  self-government  exists  there  to  an  extent 
not  seen  elsewhere.  In  China  the  people  are,  in 
fact,  masters  of  the  situation,  and  a spirit  of  sturdy 
democracy  is  everywhere  evident.  They  judge  men 
or  nations,  much  as  we  do,  by  what  they  do  rather 
than  what  they  say.  Hence  in  any  given  conditions 
or  circumstances,  if  we  infer  Chinese  feelings  or  con- 
duct from  what  our  own  would  be  in  the  same  sit- 
uation, we  shall  not  go  far  wrong,  always,  however, 
bearing  the  fact  in  mind  that  they  are  more  patient 
than  we. 

Then  it  is  necessary  to  keep  certain  facts  of 
Chinese  history  in  plain  sight.  The  first  knowledge 
which  the  Chinese  had  of  the  western  world,  by 
which  is  meant  western  Europe  and  America,  came 
through  buccaneering  expeditions,  or  piratical  attacks, 


as  they  would  now  be  called,  upon  the  Chinese  coasts 
by  the  Dutch,  Portuguese,  French,  and  Spaniards. 
In  more  modern  times,  barely  seventy  years  ago  in 
fact,  the  entering  wedge  to  break  open  the  barred 
doors  of  Chinese  seclusion  was  driven  home  by  the 
military  power  of  Great  Britain  mainly  in  order  to 
force  'a  market  for  Indian  opium,  of  which  that 
Christian  government  held  a monopoly.  From  that 
day  to  this  every  form  of  foreign  enterprise  in  China, 
irrespective  of  character  or  nationality,  has  been 
tainted  with  opium  and  hindered  by  the  hatred,  sus- 
picion, and  contempt  engenderd  by  the  eventual  suc- 
cess of  this  monstrous  scheme  to  despoil  China  in 
brain,  body,  and  pocket,  for  the  sake  of  gain  to  the 
exchequer  of  Great  Britain.  To  this  must  be  added 
more  than  sixty  years  of  unjust  and  inexcusable  di- 
plomacy, the  exploitation  of  China  to  suit  the  rival 
ambitions  and  satisfy  the  ever  growing  greed  of  the 
great  European  powers,  robberies  of  its  territory  upon 
every  border,  and  a consistent  disregard  of  ever}? 
claim  which  the  Chinese  might  put  forward  to  the 
ownership  of  their  own  territory  and  the  manage- 
ment of  their  own  affairs.  Most  clearly  it  must  be 
understood  that,  not  the  missionary  in  the  cabin, 
but  the  opium  and  gunpowder  in  the  hold,  has  fixed 
the  hatred  and  established  a permanent  opposition 
among  the  Chinese  toward  all  things  foreign.  Once 
for  all,  it  must  be  most  emphatically  declared  that, 
not  Christian  propagandism,  but  most  unchristian 
{X)licies  and  practices  of  aggression,  dominance,  and 
spoilation  upon  the  part  of  certain  governments  of 
Europe  brought  about  the  horrors  of  the  Boxer  up- 
rising. 8 


The  earlier  general  treaties  between  China  and 
foreign  governments  make  no  special  concessions 
to  any  particular  class  of  alien  residents  within  the 
Empire.  They  are  not  recognized  as  merchants, 
missionaries,  students,  or  travelers,  but  provided  for 
en  masse,  as  citizens  or  subjects  of  the  government 
with  which  the  treaty  is  negotiated.  Our  own 
government  is  particularly  careful  upon  this  point, 
asking  special  favors  for  none,  and  exerting  its  efforts, 
when  occasion  arises,  for  its  people  as  American 
citizens  only.  It  is  not  permitted  even  to  state  the 
calling  or  avocation  of  the  bearer  of  a passport,  and 
though  the  request  has  often  been  made  by  Chinese 
officials  that  this  be  done  in  the  case  of  missionaries 
in  order  that  special  protection  and  assistance  be 
afforded  them,  it  has  been  necessary  to  refuse  the 
request  as  contrary  to  statute  or  regulation.  The 
missionary  possesses  only  such  privileges,  exemptions, 
and  immunities  under  treaty,  as  are  granted  to  his 
fellow  alien  of  every  other  class  and  occupation. 
The  right  to  reside,  acquire  property,  and  to  pursue 
his  calling  at  certain  specified  centres  of  population, 
mostly  upon  the  sea-coast,  and  to  travel  freely  under 
passport,  throughout  the  interior,  covers  all  to  which 
he  is  entitled  under  the  official  pledge  and  seal  of 
the  Imperial  government  of  China. 

Yet,  from  the  inception  of  what  may  be  termed 
modern  missionary  enterprise  in  China,  the  mission- 
aries have  gone  beyond  this  narrow  limit  of  favor, 
gone  beyond  the  treaty  ports,  until  now  they  can  be 
found  in  every  province  and  in  nearly  every  large  city. 
Even  in  many  mud-walled  villages  and  rural  hamlets 


9 


missionary  families  are  now  to  be  found  quietly  and 
permanently  established  in  homes,  in  close  touch  and 
intimate  association  with  the  native  residents.  This 
special  favor,  unobtainable  by  any  other  alien  class 
in  the  Empire  has  assuredly  not  been  won  either 
through  any  exercise  of  governmental  force  or  dip- 
lomatic pressure.  It  has  been  slowly  gained  by  the 
exercise  of  patience,  tact  and  discretion  upon  the 
part  of  the  missionaries  themselves,  under  the  open 
eyes  and  with  the  tacit,  though  unspoken,  consent 
of  the  imperial  authorities.  In  rare  cases,  mission- 
aries have  been  driven  out  of  interior  points  by  local 
hostility  ; but  in  no  instance  has  the  Peking  govern- 
ment demanded  their  withdrawal,  or  our  own  govern- 
ment urged  their  right  of  residence  there.  This 
successful  missionary  expansion,  as  it  may  be  called, 
speaks  volumes  for  the  wisdom  and  patient  zeal  of 
those  who  have  accomplished  it.  It  does  more  than 
this.  It  shows  clearly  a line  of  policy  and  procedure, 
which  has  now  been  consistently  followed  by  the 
Imperial  authorities  for  more  than  forty  years,  and 
which  may  here  be  stated.  The  Emperor  will 
neither  force  nor  forbid  the  residence  and  labors  of 
missionaries  at  any  points  beyond  the  treaty  ports. 
But  recognizing  and  appreciating  the  self-denying 
and  philantrophic  character  of  missionary  effort,  he 
will  gladly  permit  those  engaged  in  it  to  establish 
themselves  throughout  the  interior,  wherever  they 
may  be  able  to  do  so  with  the  consent  and  good  will 
of  the  people  of  the  locality.  It  is  not  known  that 
this  well-established  line  of  policy  has  been  formu- 
lated and  officially  communicated  to  any  foreign 


power.  But  it  has  been  verbally  declared  to  the 
writer  by  members  of  the  Cabinet  and  other  high 
authorities  of  the  Empire,  upon  many  occasions. 

It  would  not  have  been  surprising  if  the  Chinese 
authorities,  while  conceding  so  great  an  advantage 
to  missionaries,  should  have  coupled  with  it  a dis- 
claimer of  all  responsibility  for  any  mishaps,  in- 
cluding mob  violence,  to  which  they  might  be  sub- 
jected in  seeking  residence  where  they  had  no  treaty 
right  to  be.  But  it  has  done  nothing  of  the  sort. 
It  has  never,  within  the  knowledge  of  the  writer, 
attempted  to  shirk  full  responsibility  for  the  lives 
and  property  of  the  American  citizens  in  any  part  of 
the  Empire,  or  to  claim  that  missionaries,  in  establish- 
ing themselves  in  the  interior,  ran  their  own  risks, 
took  their  lives  in  their  own  keeping,  and  must  them- 
selves bear  any  financial  losses  which  local  opposi- 
tion to  their  presence  might  entail  upon  them.  The 
utmost  in  the  nature  of  criticism  or  complaint  that 
can  justly  be  made  upon  Imperial  action  in  such 
cases,  is  that  the  Peking  government  would  perhaps 
be  more  dilatory  in  making  reparation  in  such  a case 
than  in  one  simiiar  which  might  occur  within  the 
limits  of  a treaty  port ; that  it  appeared  to  regard  the 
trouble  somewhat  in  the  light  of  a local  quarrel 
between  missionaries  and  populace  which  should  be 
adjusted  by  the  local  authorities.  And  advice,  rather 
than  orders,  for  punishment  of  offenders  and  in- 
demnity for  losses,  often  appeared  to  be  the  limit  to 
which  the  officials  at  the  capital  were  willing  to  go. 
At  the  same  time  it  must  in  justice  be  admitted 
that  if  the  authorities  of  the  legation  saw  fit  them- 


selves  to  take  the  affair  before  the  local  officials,  they 
never  failed  to  secure  ample  reparation.  Can  as 
much  be  said  regarding  anti-Chinese  mobs  in  the 
United  States? 

Aside  from  this  most  practical  evidence  of  the 
appreciation  and  favor  with  which  the  government 
of  China  regards  the  missionary  enterprise,  there  is 
a great  mass  of  testimony  from  individuals  high  in 
rank  and  authority  throughout  the  Empire,  all 
serving  to  show  that  this  unselfish  effort  for  the  good 
of  Chinese  humanity  has  gained  for  itselt  an  honored 
place  in  influential  minds  once  suspicious  of  or  open- 
ly hostile  to  it.  Large  donations  to  mission  hos- 
pitals and  schools  from  official  or  wealthy  Chinese, 
a great  and  rapidly  increasing  demand  for  Christ- 
ian literature  and  educational  works,  special  and  un- 
solicited courtesy  and  assistance  shown  to  mission- 
aries, all  these  indicate  that  the  day  of  Chinese  op- 
position to  missionary  work  among  them  has  passed, 
and  that,  whatever  may  be  the  opinion  of  foreigners 
either  resident  in  China  or  in  their  native  lands, 
China  itself,  as  represented  by  the  leaders  of  thought 
and  public  opinion  in  it,  has  recognized  and  accepted 
the  missionary  enterprise  as  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant and  useful  factors  in  the  creation  and  de- 
velopment of  new  life  in  that  ancient  and  antique 
Empire. 

Not  to  mention  other  evidence  to  this  fact,  take 
one  incident  of  recent  occurrence  in  the  good  city  of 
Boston.  The  Chinese  Imperial  government  has 
recently  dispatched  two  commissions,  composed  of 
officials  of  high  rank  and  a numerous  staff,  to  visit 


12 


and  study  various  important  subjects  in  America  and 
Europe.  When  arrangments  were  being  made  for 
the  visit  of  the  first  of  these  commissions  to  Boston, 
and  a long  list  of  points  in  or  near  the  city  which 
they  might  wish  to  see  was  submitted  to  them, 
among  the  first  selected  were  the  offices  of  the 
American  Board,  the  parent  of  all  foreign  mis- 
sionary organizations  in  the  United  States,  and 
having  large  interests  in  that  work  in  China.  The 
selection  of  this  active  centre  of  foreign  evangelistic 
effort  was  unguided  and  entirely  spontaneous.  In 
their  addresses  and  informal  remarks  during  the 
visit  to  those  offices,  the  commissioners  expressed  in 
unqualified  terms  their  appreciation  and  strong  ap- 
proval of  the  missionaiy  enterprise  in  China,  and 
their  gratitude  for  what  had  been  and  was  being 
done  there.  “ We  know  who  are  our  friends,”  said 
they  again  and  again.  Yet  neither  of  the  Chinese 
commissioners  was  a convert  to  Christianity,  they 
were  under  no  obligation  to  visit  one  of  the  head- 
quarters of  the  American  missionaiy  effort  in  China, 
or,  being  there,  to  go  beyond  polite  and  non-com- 
mittal remarks.  Hence,  and  all  the  more,  their  dec- 
larations must  in  all  fairness  be  taken  as  strong 
official  endorsement  and  approval. 

With  much  the  same  feelings  they  expressed  their 
delight  at  what  they  saw  at  Wellesley  College,  and 
recognized  in  it  the  grander  development  of  what 
American  women  were  attempting  to  do  for  the 
women  of  China.  Speaking  by  the  way,  the  treat- 
ment of  the  female  sex  is  the  darkest  blot  upon  the 
civilization  of  China.  A revolt  against  the  earlier 


practices  in  this  direction  has  already  begun  there, 
and  probably  nothing  in  the  entire  journey  of  this 
commission  into  foreign  parts  will  work  such  im- 
mediate and  lasting  change  for  the  better,  as  the 
visit  to  Wellesley.  To  cite  one  other  proof  of 
Chinese  official  approval  of  the  missionary  enterprise ; 
in  the  later  commercial  treaties,  rendered  necessary 
by  the  Boxer  uprising,  foreign  missionary  organi- 
zations are  permitted  to  acquire  real  estate  in  all 
parts  of  the  Empire,  and  “ to  erect  such  suitable 
buildings  as  may  be  required  for  carrying  on  their 
good  work.”  No  similar  concession  has  been  made 
to  any  other  class  of  alien  residents.  Thus  the  vol- 
untary and  unwritten  policy  long  followed  by  the 
Emperor  has  been  formulated  and  shaped  into  a 
solemn  engagement  and  pledge. 

To  speak  quite  frankly  and  to  the  fact,  for  many 
years  more  unfriendly  criticism  and  complaint  of 
the  presence  of  missionaries  and  their  work  in  China 
has  been  heard  from  foreigners,  either  like  them 
alien  residents  in  the  Ear  East,  or  at  home,  than  from 
Chinese  officials  or  people.  It  has  even  been  cus- 
tomary and  the  fashion  with  a certain  class,  which 
need  not  be  more  particularly  described,  in  speaking 
of  the  missionary  to  prefix  an  offensive  and  con- 
demnatory adjective  to  the  word.  Regarding  the 
the  opinions  and  judgments  of  such  with  all  possible 
charity,  they  have  been  far  more  fearful  of  the  evil 
results  of  all  attempts  to  do  good  in  far  Cathay  than 
have  the  Chinese  themselves.  Upon  the  other  hand, 
in  many  years  of  intimate  official  and  friendly  inter- 
course with  all  classes  of  Chinese  in  every  part  of 


the  Empire,  the  writer  has  never  heard  even  one  com- 
plaint of  or  objection  to  the  presence  of  American 
missionaries  in  China  or  the  character  of  their  work. 
He  has  heard  himself,  and  all  other  foreigners  of 
every  nationality  and  calling,  cursed  in  most  violent 
terms  for  having  fastened  the  opium  horror  upon  the 
Chinese  race,  and  the  suggestion  made,  in  a parox- 
ysm of  anger  and  hate  by  some  human  wreck  wrought 
by  the  drug,  that  foreigners  “ would  do  well  to  take 
away  that  awful  curse  before  they  had  the  impudence 
to  talk  to  the  Chinese  about  their  Jesus.”  But, 
aside  from  crazed  and  mistaken  denunciation,  no 
Chinaman  within  his  hearing  has  had  anything  but 
pleasant  words  to  speak  regarding  the  missionary 
enterprise,  as  conducted  by  Americans,  in  his  land. 

In  the  discussion  of  particular  “ missionary  cases,” 
as  they  are  called,  and  by  which  is  meant  cases  of 
complaints  made  by  missionaries  of  interference  with 
them  in  their  work, — interference  which  sometimes 
took  the  form  of  mob  violence, — Chinese  officials 
have  complained,  in  most  courteous  language,  of  the 
indiscreet  methods  or  conduct  of  particular  mission- 
aries. Yet  this  complaint  has  never  been  so  strong 
as  the  writer  would  himself  have  used,  and  has  been 
invariably  coupled  with  a hearty  approval  and  high 
appreciation  of  the  work  of  the  missionary  body  as  a 
whole. 

It  would  be  idle  to  deny  or  ignore  the  fact  that 
cases  of  serious  friction  between  the  natives  and 
foreign  missionaries  have  arisen  in  the  past  and  are 
still  of  less  frequent  occurrence.  By  far  the  largest 
percentage  of  such  most  unfortunate  conflicts  has 


'5 


been  caused  by  the  unwise  and  improper  interference 
of  missionaries  between  their  native  converts  and  the 
Chinese  authorities,  or  by  the  assumption  of  civil 
rank  and  authority  by  missionaries.  Since,  in  the  sixty 
years  of  modern  missionary  enterprise  in  China,  no 
single  charge  or  complaint  of  that  nature  has  been 
made  against  an  American  missionary,  such  causes 
of  trouble  need  not  be  discussed  here.  The  conduct 
of  European  governments  toward  China,  their  greed, 
aggression,  and  general  attitude  of  domination,  long 
prejudiced  both  officials  and  people  against  mission- 
aries, who  were  popularly  believed  to  make  use  of 
their  professedly  philantrophic  work  only  as  a cloak, 
and  to  be,  in  fact,  spies  of  their  own  governments 
whose  aim  was  the  seizure  of  the  Empire  and  sub- 
jugation of  its  people.  But  with  greater  mutual  in- 
telligence and  less  frequent  occasions  of  misunder- 
standing, these  causes  of  friction  and  conflict  have, 
in  great  measure,  disappeared.  The  true  charac- 
ter and  great  value  of  the  missionary  enterprise  as 
a factor  in  the  modernization  of  China,  and  in  bring- 
ing it  into  line  with  the  great  nations  of  the  world,  is 
almost  universally  recognized  and  appreciated,  at  least 
by  those  who  are  being  most  radically  affected  by  it. 
And  it  should  be  realized  and  freely  admitted  that,  in 
a nation  where  popular  opinion  and  sentiment  to  an 
almost  unprececlented  extent  guide  and  limit  govern- 
mental policy, — for  all  the  nominally  autocratic 
authority  of  the  Emperor,  — the  presence  of  such  a 
force  at  work  quietly  among  the  people,  is  of  the  utmost 
value  in  the  establishment  and  maintenance  of  good 
relations  and  the  development  to  their  full  limit  of  all 


mutual  interests.  The  missionary  has  won  his  way, 
found  his  work  in  China,  which,  while  primarily  re- 
ligious in  character,  is  greatly  helpful  in  all  worthy 
secular  affairs.  No  other  foreigner  comes  in  such 
close  and  intimate  touch  with  the  native  as  he.  And 
he  is  the  unrecognized  and  uncommissioned  rep- 
resentative of  what  is  best  in  every'  phase  and  depart- 
ment of  American  life. 

In  these  days  of  intense  commercialism,  when  trade 
appears,  at  least,  to  have  relegated  all  other  concerns 
and  interests  to  the  background,  when  not  only  men 
but  governments  are  bending  every  energy  to  the 
enlargement  of  existing  fields  of  commerce  and  the 
development  of  new  lines  and  centres  of  trade,  one 
most  important  result,  one  valuable  by  product,  as  it 
may  be  called,  of  missionary  enterprise  in  China 
deserves  to  receive  more  serious  consideration  than 
has  hitherto  been  accorded  to  it.  In  it  is  to  be  found 
an  agency,  unequaled  by  any  other,  for  the  develop- 
ment of  our  commerce  with  that  vast  population. 
Every  missionary  is,  whether  willingly  or  unwillingly, 
an  agent  for  the  display  and  recommendation  of 
American  fabrics  and  wares  of  every  conceivable  sort. 
Each  missionary  home,  whether  established  in  great 
Chinese  cities  or  rural  hamlets,  serv'es  as  an  object 
lesson,  an  exposition  of  the  practical  comfort,  con- 
venience, and  value  of  the  thousand  and  one  items  in 
the  long  catalogue  of  articles  which  complete  the 
equipment  of  an  American  home.  Idle  curiosity 
upon  the  part  of  the  natives  grows  into  personal  in- 
terest which  in  turn  develops  the  desire  to  possess. 
Did  space  permit,  an  overwhelming  array  of  facts 


>7 


and  figures  could  be  set  forth  to  prove  the  inestimable, 
though  unrecognized,  value  of  the  missionar)'  as  an 
agent  for  the  development  of  American  commerce 
in  every  part  of  the  globe.  The  manufacturing  and 
commercial  interests  in  the  United  States,  even 
though  indifferent  or  actively  hostile  to  the  direct 
purpose  of  the  missionarj^  enterprise,  could  well 
afford  to  bear  the  entire  cost  of  all  American  mission- 
ary effort  in  China  for  the  sake  of  the  large  increase 
in  trade  which  results  from  such  effort. 

When  the  government  and  people  of  the  United 
States  are  ready,  and  detennined,  to  return  to  a dig- 
nified and  decent  policy  in  the  treatment  of  the 
Chinese  who  are  within  our  borders  or  may  seek  to 
come  here ; when  we  realize  that  now  is  always  the 
time  to  apologize  for  an  insult  or  to  right  a wrong ; 
when,  in  short,  we  resume  our  earlier  attitude  and 
practice  of  fair  play  and  genuine,  helpful  friendliness 
toward  the  Chinese  race  and  nation,  we  shall  easily 
secure  a renewel  of  their  confidence  in  us  and  win 
back  all  and  more  than  all  that  now,  thanks  to  our 
own  folly,  appears  to  have  been  lost.  And  the 
American  missionary'  enterprise  in  China  will  play  a 
part  in  our  relations  with  that  great  Empire  of  even 
greater  value  in  years  to  come  than  it  has  in  the 
past. 


iS 


'1  1 


